Members of It's Our Broomfield, Too speak at council Tuesday,aim to counter Our Broomfield's efforts to put ban on November ballot

For more information about It's Our Broomfield, Too, call Linda Reynolds at 303-439-9108 or Rick Fernandez at 303-929-1463.

For more information about Our Broomfield, the group proposing a ballot measure to ban fracking for five years, go to ourbroomfield.org.

Just a few weeks after a group of residents started a petition to get a fracking ban on the November ballot, a pro-fracking community group has formed to support future oil and gas drilling in Broomfield.

Members of the group named It's Our Broomfield, Too, wore bright pink shirts bearing the phrase "Mothers In Love With Fracking" as they spoke during public comment at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

They applauded Broomfield's decision not to seek a moratorium on fracking and said they support Broomfield's efforts to update standards its for oil and gas operators.

Linda Reynolds, a former City Councilwoman and a member of the pro-fracking group, said they wanted to provide a counterbalance to Our Broomfield, a community group that wants to see fracking banned in Broomfield because of health and safety concerns.

"We felt it was time you knew there were citizens that are in favor of fracking," she said. "This is our Broomfield, too."

A dozen members of the pro-fracking group spoke during public comment. They said there was little evidence that fracking causes major health or safety concerns, and a fracking ban would attract unnecessary lawsuits that would cost Broomfield money.

The group also urged residents to think critically and do their own research before signing a petition to get a fracking ban on the ballot.

"The validity of petition will fall apart when you scrutinize claims the supporters are putting out there," said resident Rick Fernandez, whose family has long worked in oil and gas.

Sue Sadd, another fracking supporter, said the phrase "Mothers in love with fracking" fits her well. Her son, who was once against fracking, now has a resource management degree and has seen how oil and gas development helps communities, not hurts them, she said.

"He's had firsthand experience and has changed his mind," she said.

The pro-fracking group spoke just before council took up several fracking-related items on the agenda.

One item was a motion to further postpone a hearing with Sovereign, an oil and gas applicant who is proposing to drill wells in the North Park area. Though the proposed plan meets current regulatory standards, Broomfield and Sovereign have twice continued the hearings because of resident concerns about how close Sovereign's proposed wells would be to Prospect Ridge Academy charter school.

On Tuesday, council also held a study session with a group of industry experts to explore options for how to update Broomfield's oil and gas regulations. Broomfield last adopted oil and gas regulations in 1993.

The discussion also was meant to help council decide how to best pursue potential memorandums of understanding with future oil and gas drilling operations. Such MOUs would aim to hold oil and gas companies to safety and regulatory standards that would be higher than the standards already in place in the state.

Deputy City and County Attorney Tami Yellico said the city has met informally with oil and gas companies operating in Broomfield, and most of them are open to working with the city on potential MOUs for future drilling.

Councilman Todd Schumacher said MOUs would be a way to address citizen concerns about the safety of oil and gas operations by holding operators to heightened standards.

Yet Schumacher said he knows the steps might not make everyone happy, especially Our Broomfield members who are urging the city to ban fracking for five years.

"What we've learned, those who are in favor of moratorium, are not going to be satisfied with anything short (of that)," he said.

Our Broomfield needs more than 2,000 signatures to get get a fracking ban on the November ballot, said Broomfield elections administrator Michael Susek.

If the petition drive succeeds, the ballot question would ask voters to approve a five-year ban on all hydraulic fracturing in Broomfield.

The ban would prohibit using fracking to "extract oil, gas or other hydrocarbons within ... Broomfield." No liquid or solid wastes associated with fracking could be stored within city and county limits, according to the petition.

The ban being sought would sunset sometime in 2018, unless voters approved a measure that extended the ban, said Laura Fronckiewicz, a member of Our Broomfield who helped put together the petition.

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